Everybody likes to pretend that they have pop-cultural taste, but everyone has fatal blind spots threatening to expose them at all times. One guy at the gym was talking a pretty good game to me, lending me his iPod, until he handed it over loaded with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. For me, I was embarrassed to admit that sure, I would see Must Love Dogs. It has John Cusack and Diane Lane, right? I would see Must Love Dogs, even though it's a cheesy romantic comedy, but for some unexplained reason I'm going to get snobby and say I would never see something as stupid and gay as Maid in Manhattan.
Well, I'll tell you. I saw Must Love Dogs and they should call it Must Love Crap. The film does manage to establish John Cusack as some kind of prodigy for pulling off romantic, man-boy patter at his advanced stage of puffiness, but it all still falls flatter than the EKG on Dave Chappelle's career.
Meanwhile, I just saw the end of Maid in Manhattan on cable, and I'm ashamed to admit that I enjoyed it more, with the exception of Ralph (Rafe) Fiennes' poor American accent. Maybe it was the subzero expectations. Still, I don't know anyone who would endorse Maid and I know of at least two people who would endorse Dogs. Considering I have a Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam Greatest Hits CD in my collection, I don't know why I ever thought my opinion was credible in the first place.
Does this series of realizations really reflect social discomfort of any kind? And did you just use "gay" as a derogatory adjective? They can actually take away your SAS diploma retroactively, you know.
ReplyDeletei see the thought police have arrived.
ReplyDeletedid you have an U.M. with the gay iPod man when you returned the device?
-- pb (dot c)
ps. i like clint eastwood movies because pretty much everybody gets what they deserve.
I just watched a double feature of "Hitch" and "In Good Company" -- every time I laughed out loud, I punched myself in the leg. That'll learn me...
ReplyDeleteI hear that "Exorcism of Emily Rose" trumps all but "Philadelphia Story" for witty romanti-comedic banter...
Damn, one MCPS joke and you're Hermann Goering.
ReplyDeleteI hope I'm not being counted as one of the two people who would endorse that movie. I just didn't dislike it as much as you did. I don't want to be responsible for encouraging your fans to go see it.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha -- T, you make a fair point. But still, don't try to escape the fact that you spoke up for it -- and I don't think there's anything wrong with that, since I'll speak up for much less defensible stuff. But the beauty part is, no outside opinion can come between a person and his/her bad taste. If someone wants to see 'Must Love Dogs,' neither you nor I could stop them anymore than we could convince them that it's better than "Maid in Manhattan.'
ReplyDelete